Category: Planetary Aspects

Spiritual Company Newsletter

By Steffan Vanel • Astrologer • Tarot Reader

March 17, 2015

Dear Friends, Clients, & Subscribers,

Yesterday was the final of 7 squares between Pluto and Uranus occurring between 2012 and 2015. In these years things have been rather intense and crazy. To be honest, however, when I saw this period of Astrological weather approaching I was both fearing and hoping that it would be even more intense, challenging, and/or transformative than it has been.

Hilarion* describes Pluto in this way:

The planet Pluto is the great bringer of change. Where this planet is located in the birth chart always designates an area or department of life in which the soul has agreed to undergo pressures promoting a deep-seated alteration in its attitudes, habits or understanding. If the personality resists these pressures, then much stress and difficulty will be felt. Pluto is like the irresistible force, sweeping all before it. The only beneficial approach to this planet’s energies is to move in the direction it indicates. To do otherwise is to invite disaster.

Personally, anything involving Pluto can induce in me what I now call ‘Plutophobia,’ in part based on personal life experiences.

And yet, there has been plenty in the news to resonate with the gravity of this tension between the planet of complete death/rebirth (Pluto) and the planet of revolution and liberation from old patterns that have outlived their purpose (Uranus). Those of you who have been reading my newsletters these past years I am sure have noted my returning frequently to these themes.

There is an historical corollary, however, which leads me to think that an Astrological event like this period of Pluto/Uranus squares is itself the birth of a new energy or consciousness, but not the full manifestation of it.

The historical comparison I have made is with the last period of time in which these two planets were in ‘hard aspect’ with each other. That was when Pluto and Uranus conjuncted each other. Once in 1965 and twice in 1966. These conjunctions are the Astrological ‘signature’ of what we now call ‘The Sixties.’

Just as the prelude period before 2012-2015 saw omens of intense transformative forces approaching, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Financial crash of 2008, so too, prior to 1965/66 we had already experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy Assassination, the beginning of U.S. engagement in Vietnam, and the fight for Civil Rights.

Having lived in that era, however, I can look back and see that there were things which were being seeded into the collective experience in 1965 and 1966 that didn’t really reach a ‘fever pitch’ until 1967, 1968, and 1969.

For example, the first actual U.S. combat brigade didn’t land in Vietnam until 1965, and the first conventional battle there wasn’t until 1966. At that time things were already bad, but no one could see the real horror that was coming in the following years.

On a more positive note, with popular culture, on of the more exciting things I remember in 1966 was attending a Beatles concert. The experience of this concert definitely made me aware that something really new and different was afoot in the ‘zeitgeist’ of the time. It wasn’t particularly the music they were playing at that time. In fact at that concert I couldn’t hear a single note of what they were performing. As soon as they stepped out onto the stage out there on the racetrack all you could hear were 15,000 absolutely hysterical screaming girls.

Not having grown up with a sister this was a real shock for me. Looking back now I sincerely believe it was a form of ‘mass hysteria’. If you were a young girl attending that concert and you had not been planning to scream, I sincerely believe you would have been unable to not scream.

And although this was a shocking new phenomenon relative to the rather staid, comformative society of that time, I see now that this was just a prelude to what was coming, i.e. many forms of sexual liberation, and the huge psychedelic, Hippie, Anti-Vietnam protesting years of 1967, 68, & 69. A particular peak moment for me was being present and able to hear Jimi Hendrix pay ‘The Star Bangled Banner’ at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969.

I share this analogy as a way of describing my sense of this present period of another intense Astrological ‘signature.’ My sense is that this last square is not the end of something, but the end of the beginning of something.

And, just as we can look back at the years 1965 and 1966 and see the omens of things which were to come later, so too we can take stock at this moment and look for the omens of what is now being born and is likely to increase in intensity in the years ahead.

There are plenty of obvious scenarios at play, but one of my exercises these last few days has been to pay attention to the appearance of any specific messages or synchronistic gestalt images of our current ‘zeitgeist.’

When I am home here in the mountains I listen to a lot of news and interview programs on the radio while I do daily chores, mostly on NPR, the BBC, and Alternative Radio. It is here where I have been listening for these omens. For example on Sunday evening I head about a nihilistic apocalyptic book entitled ‘In the Dust of this Planet’ whose book cover has made it into a famous fashion photo and onto the jacket of JZ in his and Beyonce’s recent video.

Later that same night I heard an interview with the author of ‘Sapiens’ presenting the premise that the next planetary revolution will not be an industrial revolution, or a technological revolution, but a revolution of the human species itself.

Now this second more hopeful scenario also acknowledged the rather apocalyptic backdrop which has certainly been poking its face at us in various guises in these days. Guises such as the fact that climate scientists are no longer speaking of climate change avoidance, but now of climate change adaptation, a hard message for the island nation of Vanuatu as the worst cyclone in their memory, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane, devastated their homeland in these days of omen-watching.

Yesterday I heard an interview with the author of ‘The Internet is not the Answer’ by a Silicone Valley figure explaining how behind the rosy idealistic view of the Internet there is a growing awareness among some major players in Silicone Valley that the Internet actually promotes some of the basic evils of the early 21st century. The author cites inequality, unemployment, and the arising of the surveillance economy and culture. In his assessment he notes the emergence of a plutocratic elite, and that the ‘cult of the consumer’ espoused by people like Jeff Bezos of Amazon is actually impoverishing us as citizens.

The BBC program ‘Business Daily’ interviews plenty of brilliant thinkers who espouse other rather apocalyptic, Pluto in Capricorn, economic, business world scenarios.

And of course there are the other back drops of Ebola, Ukraine, and to my mind the most potent Gestaltic image prevalent on the word scene today: The Apocalyptic beliefs of the so-called Islamic State.

I have mentioned in a previous newsletter how the Islamic State is the one social/cultural/political entity who has a birthchart with the Pluto/Uranus Square in it. They are a product of these times. Their chart also has a whole lot of other Astrological factors indicative of their intense, violent, and what has been termed ‘death cult’ being and consciousness.

I heard today that part of their belief is that a Messiah will appear, and Jesus will appear as well (a prophet in Islam), and along with ISIS they will carry the final war to Jerusalem. Another rather heavy image to appear on these few days of watching for omens.

A particularly potent event relatable to these few days of prophetic anticipation, to my mind, is the election taking place today in Israel, a peaking moment in the midst of Netanyahu’s speech before the US Congress, the letter to Iran from the 47 Republican Senators, the culminating negotiations with Iran, and yesterday, the announcement by an official from Saudi Arabia that if Iran is allowed to pursue nuclear energy then they, as well as other players in the Middle East, will also insist on the right to develop nuclear energy.

These events feel to me a bit like the first Marine brigade to land in Vietnam in 1965…

I am not going to go into the details now, but Hilarion speaks of this period on the planet as ‘The Tribulation,’ a time of breaking down the old world system to allow the birth of a New Age. He has foretold many things which have and are now coming to pass. If you read his book: Nations, you can see that he has some pretty dire predictions. But at the end of that book he also says the following:

A final purpose for this booklet is to offer an exercise in prophecy – not to prove that we at this level can see the future more clearly than is possible from the earth plane (for this is not so), but rather to demonstrate that prophecy is a complex matter which can misfire, and that prophetic utterance should always be looked upon as if stating probabilities which mayor may not come about, depending upon the reactions of those to whom the prophetic warning is delivered. True occultists have always understood that the best prophet is the false prophet, i.e. the one whose warnings of things to come have so impressed his listeners that they, by altering their hearts and minds, were able to avert the events which the prophet foresaw. Indeed, the only real justification for prophecy is the possibility that it will prompt those upon whose ears it falls to alter their lives for the better, and thus to improve their souls.

For this reason, it will be seen that some of the prophetic statements which we have made in this booklet will not materialize, or will do so in altered form. If the alteration is a lessening of the blow, then we can only be pleased at the result. Indeed, the whole purpose of this little booklet, as well as the other books in the series, is to prompt as many souls as possible to abandon their old materialistic and selfish ways, and to take up the cross of service to their brothers – for by so doing they will kindle within themselves a warm flame which will shield them from the adversity and trouble that is beating even now at the doors.

Whether we will take opportunity to make that kind of change remains to be seen. I feel there is a greatly significant choice being made today in Israel. A choice I feel is more likely to engage Israel into the destiny Hilarion has predicted, and a choice that could alter that destiny…

No matter which choice is made I encourage us all to keep the faith that there is a Higher Reality behind life. Faith that there are higher Angelic beings, Ascended Masters, a spiritual Hierarchy and that things are playing out in the way s they need to for the karmic requirements of everyone involved. But it is all serving the ultimate evolutionary goal of the Divine becoming aware of itself. This being in resonance with the next revolution of the planet as foretold in the aforementioned book: Sapiens.

It is too late for this newsletter to have an effect on anyone voting in Israel today. Nonetheless I feel inspired to share Hilarions’s prediction for Israel:

ISRAEL has lost her Master.

She has forgotten the God who guided her people through the long centuries of affliction and persecution. Because she has forgotten her God, she will be tested in the very center of the crucible when the bitter years are upon the earth. This trial will bring the nation back to God, but only after much has been suffered.

Israel has been the repository of a burning faith and devotion for many centuries. She was meant to carry that flame aloft so that in the Tribulation years new fires could be lighted from it, to bring the world back to a true faith.

Those of her people who remained in other countries have still that intensity of dedication to their religion which can fulfill the stated purpose during the Last Days. But among the people of the new state of Israel there is only a mockery of faith. They do not believe any more. And because of their unbelief they will be forced to drink the bitter cup to the dregs in the years of trouble ahead.

I do believe that not only Israel, but also much of the world has lost their Master. It has been noted that for many of the members of ISIS their inspiration to join was not as a result of economic disadvantages. Many of their foreign fighters come from privileged, educated backgrounds. To my mind the attraction of ISIS is because these people feel the energy of having found their Master. They are experiencing an individual, ego-transcending, collective, spiritually passionate faith and transcendent surrender to a higher reality. Something which is virtually totally lacking within the secular, consumeristic, materially obsessed, hedonistic, and comparatively boring Western world of today.

Unfortunately these ISIS members have been seduced by a Dark Master, what feels like a manifestation of the Anti-Christ energies rather than the Christ energies.

Hilarion has stated that just as the Christ is really an energy, basically the Love aspect of the Divine, so too the Anti-Christ is also an energy. And in order to allow the Christ energy access to the planet they also had to allow the Anti-Christ energy access to the planet.

I do feel hope and faith however. Another interesting corollary between now and the 1960’s: 2008 was the 40th anniversary of the 1968 ‘Summer of Love’ here in the U.S. In respect of that one of the Art House theaters in Seattle ran some interesting films to commemorate the occasion. One was a CBS television documentary about the Hippie Movement. It was quite interesting.

The segment which particularly tweaked me was an interview with a teenage boy who had been place in a psychiatric hospital by his parents after experimenting with LSD. One of his statements ran something like: “All of a sudden I realized that everything was energy and that everything was one and that God was everywhere.”

They then interviewed the greatly distraught mother who was truly concerned about her son’s mental state issuing a statement which, at that time, would have been truly alarming: “He said that he saw God. And of course nobody can see God, not until you die.” And the interviewer acquiesced in commiseration for the obviously crazy irrational statement uttered by her son.

This was a clear illustration of the collective mind-set of that era. Nowadays such a statement is not likely to cause anywhere near the same alarm in the majority of the population. Clearly we have come a long ways. There is, however, a lot more to come, and needs to come, if we are to survive as a species.

Blessings,
Steffan Vanel

POSTSCRIPT TO YESTERDAY’S WRITINGS:

Well Netanyahu has won the Israeli election with the promise that there will be no two-state solution to the Palestinian Occupation. Personally I had hoped for a different outcome. Maybe the die is cast. Regardless, I pray for the peace and well-being and liberation of all souls including the Israelis and Palestinians and everyone everywhere.

This Friday there will be a New Moon with a Solar Eclipse with the Moon engaging the Pluto/Uranus Square as the Spring Equinox Sun entering Aries occurs. Another time for ‘omen watching’ and to embrace death and a new beginning.

Spiritual Company Newsletter

2015 looks like a continuation of the major Astrological theme of the last several years, with an additional consideration. And there is the arrival of a whole new Astrological configuration.

The continuing configuration is the Pluto in Capricorn Square to Uranus in Aries. The last exact square will be on March 16th.

There are, however, two things to bear in mind with this last square.

One is the fact that the six previous squares all had either Pluto or Uranus retrograde, moving backwards, at the time of the square. So one or the other planet was moving back over old material.

At the time of this last square both Pluto and Uranus are moving direct. This could be an ending of this series of seven squares between 2012 and 2015 with some kind of ‘bang’. The level on which that may occur is hard to predict.

The other consideration here is the fact that even though this is the last exact square, these squares have set in motion things which will continue to manifest.

For example, the last period of intense Pluto/Uranus activity was in the 1960’s when they were in conjunction with each other. The last exact conjunction was in June of 1966. That was a period of civil rights activity, the start of the build up in Vietnam and Beatlemania.

But the years that really reflect the intensity of that conjunction came after 1966, with the intensification of the War in Vietnam, the student riots in Paris, the Russian tanks in Prague, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy etc.

And so I think it will take until the end of this decade to see the full manifestation of the transformative potential of these squares.

One clear manifestation of something that was born with this intense Pluto/Uranus energy in their chart is the so-called Islamic State or ISIS. I have spoken about their chart in an earlier newsletter and I make some comments about it in my YouTube lecture. Suffice to say it is a really intense chart and has some pretty intense transits coming their way in the years ahead.

The other large Astrological configuration at play this year is the Saturn in Sagittarius moving into a square to Neptune in Pisces. So all four outer planets will be in tension with each other this year.

This Neptune/Saturn square doesn’t peak until November, but I think its influence started last fall. I think it is relatable to the Racial/Police tensions in the U.S. and the Ebola epidemic in Africa.

I had the desire earlier to write a newsletter entitled: Am I my Brother’s Keeper? : Africa, Ebola and Racism. Basically, I have felt that there is no accident that these events have been happening simultaneously. I think it was also highly symbolic that President Obama’s summit meeting in Washington of African leaders that was supposed to cultivate American/African relations and business engagements took place right as there was the recognition that the Ebola outbreak had gone out of control, where one leader actually couldn’t attend the meeting in Washington because of it.

Saturn in Sagittarius in tension with Neptune in Pisces can involve having to be confronted or vulnerable to ways in which your own limited belief system has kept you from recognizing the true suffering of others, whether it is the danger of being a young black man in relation to a racially charged, militarized police force or, on the other hand, the fearful vulnerability of being a police officer in a society with so much fear, violence and guns around.

The dispassionate disconnect from those suffering in Africa is really obvious in that is was pretty much a side story here in the U.S. and Europe until we had our first cases of Ebola on our own territories.

In my YouTube lecture/video I speak about the Astrology chart for the birth of Ebola which is quite interesting, but I can say here does indicate the sign Cancer, of caring and nurturing, in tension with Pluto the planet of complete death/rebirth.

Any tension involving the planet Neptune or the sign Pisces, and here we have both, creates a high propensity for the ‘victim/victimizer’ program.

This time the tension is coming from a Saturnian stern restriction or ‘reality check’ in Sagittarius, a sign related to your ‘belief system’ and your philosophical morals.

Because the only way out of the victim/victimizer program is the positive side of the planet Neptune, that being: unconditional love, for oneself and for others, total forgiveness for oneself and for others, and total faith, trust and surrender to where there are no victims or victimizers, but just all of us little boys and girls doing the best that we can.

It brings to my mind what Rodney King said during the LA riots that followed the acquittal of the police officers who beat him: “Why can’t we all just get along?”

In addendum: I wrote the above before the Charle Hebdo Massacre took place in Paris. It seems that much of what I said above is applicable to what we see has taken place there.

The intensity of these aspects and the level of fear, resentment and hatred that is manifesting now seem to indicate that it is time for a major deep spiritual, psychological transformation if we are not to live in a world of greater and greater fear and danger.

On that note I would like to end with the Sabian Symbols for the degrees of the Zodiac being activated by the Saturn/Neptune Square which will be exact on November 26 (Thanksgiving Day here in the US)

I think that they bear poignant images of the kind of internal and external transformation that we are being called upon to manifest:

PHASE 248 (SAGITTARIUS 8°): WITHIN THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH NEW ELEMENTS ARE BEING FORMED.
KEYNOTE: The alchemical fire which both purifies and transforms the very substance of man’s inner life.

Forces are at work in the deepest layers of the psyche which in their own way respond to the outer stimulation produced by a strong involvement in group ambitions and emotions, and even more by the powerful tensions and releases of love. An alchemical process goes on, usually unnoticed by the conscious ego, until it becomes obvious that a kind of mutation has taken place and a new level of awareness and of responses to life has been reached.

At this third stage of the five-fold sequence we deal with both the basic rhythm of growth of the human being and the reaction to more individualized experiences which aroused the emotions. The very substance of the person’s nature undergoes modifications, on the basis of which a new step may be taken. The symbol draws our attention to the inner changes. We have to become aware of them. What is implied is a kind of PSYCHIC GESTATION.

PHASE 338 (PISCES 8°): A GIRL BLOWING A BUGLE.
KEYNOTE: A call to participation in the service of the race, as an evolutionary crisis approaches.

This symbolic picture presents another aspect of the emotional relationship between the individual and the collectivity of human beings. It can also be related to the old feminist movement or the present women’s liberation. In traditional symbolism the woman refers more specifically to the biological and psychic aspect of human life; she is seen primarily as the mother, and/or the intuitive or “psychic” type of person. A new race of human beings may well be slowly unfolding some of its potential of consciousness and fulfillment. The individual who envisions this evolutionary development “sounds the call.” He or she is both seer-herald and mutant. In that sense such a human being is both an individual true to his original nature and a dedicated person — dedicated to the future he or she holds in latency as does a seed in mutation.

At this third stage of the sixty-eighth five-fold sequence the two preceding phases blend in a new form of consecration of the individual to the Whole. Tomorrow acts through today; it SUMMONS men to rebirth.

Spiritual Company Newsletter

By Steffan Vanel • Astrologer • Tarot Reader

July 26, 2014

Dear Friends and Clients,

First of all I want to apologize to those of you who were not receiving my newsletters these past few months. I finally figured out it was a glitch going on between my newsletter service and my yahoo account. It seems to have been fixed now.

Fortunately you have only missed the Starwise monthly forecasts as I was so busy during my recent travels in Asia that was unable to write anything more than that.

Today I finally have the time to respond to those of you who have been requesting that I share a few words regarding the craziness of the world at this time.

The title of this article relates to the fact that this month, within a few days of the crash of Malaysian Airliner 17, both Saturn and Uranus stopped moving. When a slower-moving planet ‘stations’ like that, it is always a strong moment. Having two at the same time is the poignant Astrological signature of this time period.

I have often said that there is a spectrum. On one end of it is security and on the other end is freedom. And everyone has to feel where he or she is the most comfortable on that spectrum. It has always seemed to me that most of society is always way down at the security end of this spectrum, whereas I’ve always felt myself to be choosing freedom over security, although in my later years that is certainly shifting a bit.

Astrologically we can place Saturn at the security end and Uranus at the end of freedom. It was, however the Uranian urges toward freedom, which was previously moving forwards, stimulating pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine, surprise youthful migrations from Central America, and Hamas rockets from Gaza, which has now stopped and has started moving backwards in retrograde motion, making it’s energy less available for new ventures like that.

And it was Saturn which had been less available in retrograde motion, which stopped, and is now moving forwards and is therefore more available for greater Saturnian responsibility, discipline and commitment towards what will truly serve the interests of security for all. Hence my title: Freedom (i.e. Uranus) on the Brakes & Security (i.e. Saturn) on the Gas.

Of course all of these national entities have their own Astrological stories going on. Way too much for me to tackle right now. Ukraine, Russia and Putin I have written about previously and that article is archived on my website.

I did want to share a little socio-political and Astrological commentary regarding the children arriving at the U.S. border from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. There is obvious karma here, and it shows how the results of your actions create rippling effects that eventually bounce back to you.

I was listening to interviews with individuals in Honduras expressing the political strife, the poverty and the gang violence which is presently prevalent in their nation. One interviewee, however, stated that Hondurans who live near the Nicaraguan border go over to Nicaragua for their healthcare, because in Nicaragua they have free socialized medicine.

Clearly we haven’t heard much about children arriving from Nicaragua. Those of us old enough to remember the Senior Bush and especially Reagan years well remember that the socialist Sandanista government in Nicaragua in the 1980’s was declared to be our enemy and we placed our covert military support into backing right-wing military governments in …. Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Ironically it is now Nicaragua which is the relatively stable society.

Because of that war the U.S. was obliged to accept refugee status for many immigrants coming from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Many of you may have heard this and how many of these kids arriving at our border are relatives of, or even children of, these earlier immigrants.

There is a poignant voice which I have been hearing, however, like a ghost from the past. It was a speech given in 1968. This was during the last period of similarly intense Pluto/Uranus engagement as we are currently experiencing.

I heard this speech in 2008 for that year was the 40th anniversary of the death of Robert Kennedy, the fallen younger brother of President John F. Kennedy who was himself running for President that year. The speech was his last campaign speech before being shot. The part of his speech which struck me at the time his putting out an appeal for something which I could never imagine any political candidate today coming anywhere close to uttering such a similar appeal. The appeal was to increase aid and assistance to our neighbors in Central and South America, citing how a nation as wealthy as our own should not turn a blind eye towards those so close to us.

Could you imagine anyone trying to get popular support for something like that today? Or at least before these 52,000 children showed up?

Instead we trained their nations in violence in the years since 1968, and today, most of the guns in the hands of gangs in Central America are smuggled in from the lax-gun-law Western U.S. states.

Imagine, however, if Robert Kennedy had won the Presidency in 1968 instead of Richard Nixon….

This situation reminds me of two things One is the intense Astrological ‘exam’ currently going on in relation to the U.S. Astrological Birthchart ‘curriculum.’

The part of our curriculum being confronted is our Saturn in the Tenth House of ‘work, career, ‘role’ in the world,’ which is natally square to our Sun in Cancer in the Seventh House of partnerships and relationships with others.

The Sun in Cancer is the soul potential of the U.S. well-expressed by these words from the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty:

The Saturn Square to that Sun in Cancer is the karmic restriction and limitation upon that Cancerian Soul potential. This is Hilarion’s pronouncement for the Karmic lesson involving Saturn in the 10th House:

Tenth House
When Saturn is found in the tenth sector, the meaning is that the individual must put considerable effort into his job or career in order to make it a success. Lacking this effort — and a good deal of care and caution the career will tend to turn sour again and again. The lesson is simply to devote a reasonable effort to making one’s job a success. If this is done, then no problems will be encountered. However, past life habits of sloth and inattention have usually been brought forward into this life, and it is these which the job reverses are meant to correct.

This restrictive Saturnian tension upon our ability to fully accept responsibility for our ‘role’ in the world, in tension with our Cancerian potential as expressed in that Statue of Liberty poem is something I have recognized in conflicts in this nation’s experience from Thomas Jefferson vs. Alexander Hamilton, to the North and South in the Civil War to today’s Republican and Democratic conflicts, and to periods of generous beneficence to those who are suffering or in harm’s way in the world, to periods of ‘Isolationism.’

The Saturn in the U.S. birthchart is in the 15th degree of Libra and the Sun is in the 14th degree of Cancer. This natal Saturn/Sun square is currently experiencing a ‘Grand Cross’ in tension with the Pluto/Uranus Square in the sky right now. Pluto is currently moving forwards at the 13th degree of Capricorn (squaring our Saturn and opposing our Sun) and Uranus is moving backwards at the 17th degree of Aries, (opposing our Saturn and squaring our Sun).

I mentioned this in my predictions for 2014 and the likelihood that it would involve the on-going gridlock between the two political parties. Since the Sun is in the 7th House of relationships, however, I also stated that the tension could involve our relationships with others….like Russia, Israel, Palestinians etc..

The next exact Pluto/Uranus Square will be in December at the 14th degrees of Capricorn/Aries, and likely relatable to the aftermath of the mid-term elections, if not several of the intense relationships we are currently dealing with around the world.

I will end this article with Hilarion’s pronouncement regarding the U.S. in his book: Nations. This is the other thing which this time period and our ‘current exams’ reminds me of, both for the obvious resonant criticism of our nation and for the, difficult at times to believe, optimism and positive vision it holds for our nation:

AMERICA has lost her generosity.
Once, when the world was groaning in the aftermath of a great and terrible war, she stood forth with her riches in her hand, offering them freely to those who had been broken by the strife. She did not refuse to give of herself, of her wealth, of her energy and of her love. What Europe has become today is largely a result of the generosity of the American spirit and the ideals of brotherhood which this country has held so high.

But today America has drawn back and has closed the door to other nations. She has sealed herself behind a wall and refuses to offer help to those less fortunate than herself.

This great country must have its rebirth along with all the rest. In many ways she is the greatest nation the earth has ever known. But she is flawed today by a blindness which has crept into her perception of the world. In the terrible years ahead, although she herself will be preserved almost to the end from the full onslaught, she will see with increasing alarm the destruction and the loss which the baser passions of man will bring.

At last, in an agony of the soul, America will again stand forth with her love, to rescue and nurture the peoples of the world whose nations have collapsed and disintegrated in the terrors that man has brought upon himself. By that act she will again and for all time-be purified. In the new age that will dawn for mankind, America will lead the world as a great and burning beacon of truth, of justice, of peace and of purity.